That’s my busted iPhone 6. It still works, more or less, but it has an ever-growing spiderweb of cracks rippling out from its lower left corner. Using it is a pretty awful experience. Awful enough, in fact, that I’m currently using a Samsung Galaxy S6 as my daily driver — a perfectly nice phone, but not the phone I intended to use daily. I’d still be using the iPhone 6 if it weren’t so busted up, and it wouldn’t be so busted up had I not dropped it on Fifth Avenue.

“But no one will ever see the pretty Rose Gold phone I got!” you argue. Agreed! That’s the same logic I use. Why buy a gorgeous device only to hide it away?

It’s not even an unlimited phone repair discount program. Here’s Apple’s official wording on it:

Every iPhone comes with one year of hardware repair coverage through its limited warranty and up to 90 days of complimentary support. AppleCare+ for iPhone extends your coverage to two years from the original purchase date of your iPhone and adds up to two incidents of accidental damage coverage, each subject to a service fee of $US79 for iPhone 5c, iPhone 5s, iPhone 6, and iPhone 6 Plus, or $US99 for iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, plus applicable tax.

Let’s break that down: you pay $US129 for AppleCare+ alongside your new phone (which lasts for two years from the purchase date) and then another $US99 should your phone incur “accidental damage.” Like, say, dropping your phone and the screen breaking.

So, for the privilege of only paying $US99 to replace your broken screen, you have to pay $US129 up front. And that only counts for two instances of “accidental damage,” so you’re only able to fix a broken phone two times — again, at a cost of $US99 each time — after having paid $US129 for AppleCare+.

So, for a lot of people, AppleCare+ may not be the best deal. For others, especially those who require a lot of customer support for their device or know they’re prone to cracking it, it could be worth the extra $US130.

But for everyone else, just buy a case.

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